Gadget Camera
by Proforce
Summary: Story 7! The nerve of some animals! Ranger Headquarters has been robbed! But when Gadget installs a security system to catch the theives, all she seems to catch is everything else. Big Brother might not be watching, but Gadget's cameras certainly are. R


"Gadget Camera"  
Authors: Robert Brown and Francis Tolbert  
  
Disclaimer: This story uses characters created and copyrighted by Disney   
(except where noted, in which case they were created and   
copyrighted by us or by another and we have permission to use   
them). The authors hereby give permission for this story to be   
downloaded and/or printed at 1 copy per user as long as (1) no   
changes to the story are made without our express written(not   
e-mailed) permission and (2) no attempt is made to profit from   
this story. If either or both rules are violated, it will be   
considered a violation of copyright law.  
  
Author's Note: Well, seems our last story didn't go over quite so well as  
the others. The reason for that was because I was working from our original  
blueprint of it which I wrote about 10 years ago. Instead of revising and  
updating it like we normally do, I just plowed ahead and tried to get it done.  
Be assured, we will not make that mistake again. Some of the points here will  
help to clear up what was and wasn't said in "Brotherly Love." If anyone   
still has questions after all is said and done, you know where to reach us.  
And as a quick note, we are trying to write this as if it had continued on   
from the series, so the setting of it is the year 1991. Till next time   
everyone, Happy Reading!  
  
Cast of Characters(in order of appearance)  
Zipper  
Monterey Jack  
Chip  
Dale  
Foxglove  
Gadget  
Tammy  
Rick  
Jim  
Thomas  
  
#7  
  
It was a warm spring night, not so warm as to be really uncomfortable,   
but warm enough to hint at the coming summer. It was the type of night that   
most people and animals alike are happy to spend outside with their friends,   
enjoying the weather before the heat truly sets in. But for the Rescue   
Rangers, that was sadly not the case.  
They had just returned home from a daylong case involving Fat Cat and  
his goons and were more tired than they had been in a long time. Most of them  
were just barely able to get out of their clothing and into bed before sleep  
claimed them. Poor Foxglove was so tired though that she wasn't even able to   
hold onto her perch and ended up sleeping on the floor.  
As the night deepened and quieted, it became eerily still in Central   
Park, especially in the Headquarters. It was so quiet, one could hear a pin  
drop, provided you were awake to hear it. But as tired as our six heroes   
were, it's doubtful they would've been roused by a tornado ripping their tree  
apart by its roots. So it should come as no surprise that the slight sound of  
the front door's locks being picked went completely unnoticed, as did the   
silent footseps of the three animals that slipped inside the opened door.  
The night soon passed and the next day dawned bright and warm. Zipper  
roused himself from his heavy slumber not from an outside noise, but from his  
own stomach grumbling. Once he got his bearings, he remembered that it was  
Monterey's turn to cook breakfast. Mumbling to himself because he knew how   
hard it was to wake up his best friend, he flew out of his hammock and yanked  
on his friend's mustache.  
Monterey, on the other hand, was quite content to continue his slumber,  
especially since it was filled with cheese, cheese, and more cheese. But when  
one of those cheeses began pulling on his mustache, he sat up with a jerk.   
"Zipper?" he asked, rubbing his eyes and yawning. "What's the problem?"  
Zipper chattered at him, rubbing his stomach and then pointing in the  
direction of the kitchen.  
Monterey scratched his head for a moment before he realized what was   
bothering the fly. "Oh yeah, my turn to make breakfast. Sorry about that, I  
was distracted by my dreams of cheeeeeeese." Zipper rolled his eyes at the  
mini cheese attack that was occurring. "Oh all right," Monterey said, tossing  
off his blanket and jumping out of his own hammock. "Besides, I got me a new  
recipe that I've been wanting to try out. Cheesy omelet supreme!"  
Both Zipper's and Monterey's stomachs growled at the mention of food.  
Chuckling, Monterey opened the door and headed out to get the cooking started.  
He opened the fridge to get the ingredients and discovered a problem: it was  
empty. "That can't be right," he thought, closing the door. He opened it   
again and looked inside, sure that he had been mistaken. But it was still   
empty.  
"What's going on here?" he wondered, slamming the door shut. "We just  
went shopping the other day, this thing should be full of food! Maybe I'm   
still dreaming, but if I am it's a nightmare now. I know! I'll go back to   
bed and wake up again. That's all." And so with a yawn, he headed back to  
his room with every intention of going back to sleep.   
At least he did, until he got a view of the living room. Not believing  
what he had seen, he ran into the living room and skidded to a stop.   
Everything was gone. The TV, the sofa, the chairs, everything that wasn't   
either nailed down or part of the tree itself. "Crikey," he murmured, taken  
aback by all this. "What happened?"  
Monterey looked around for any sign of just what had occurred when he  
noticed something. The front door was wide open and swinging in the slight  
breeze. As soon as he noticed it, he knew the lock had been picked, and why   
it had been. "We've been robbed!" he roared in anger, slamming his fist into  
the nearby wall.  
He ran over to the emergency horn, the same one he'd used to wake   
everyone up when they were on their exercise kick. Taking a deep breath, he  
blew into it with all his might, releasing a noise that shook the tree to its  
roots.  
A few moments ago, both Chip and Dale were slumbering peacefully. But  
as soon as that horn sounded, both of them were shaken awake, literally, as  
they were rattled out of bed and to the floor. Chip pushed Dale off of him  
and got quickly to his feet. The brothers simply looked at each other before  
dashing off to the living room. "What's the big idea Monty?" Chip asked,   
glowering at the bigger mouse.   
"Yeah, this better not be another of your exercise kicks," Dale said,   
his eyebrows drawn together in annoyance and anger. "The last one nearly  
kicked us!"  
"Hey, what's all the hubbub?" Foxglove asked, blinking the sleep from  
her eyes as she walked into the living room. "Can't a girl get a couple   
extra hours of beauty sleep?"  
"Now Monty," Gadget said, pushing her hair back out of her eyes, "you  
know we agreed to only use that horn in an emergency. There had better be a  
good reason behind this."  
"Look around Gadget luv," Monterey said, sweeping his arm around.   
"Notice something a little different?"  
"What do you expect us to see Monty? I mean it's just...our...."  
Gadget stopped talking when she realized just what Monterey was referring to,  
and all she could whisper was, "Golly."  
"Hey, where'd all our stuff go?" Dale asked, looking around at the  
nearly bare room.  
"That's what I've been trying to tell you, pally," Monterey said. "I  
found the door forced open this morning, so I think it's safe to say that  
we've been robbed!" he roared for the second time that morning.  
"Who would do such a thing?" Foxglove wondered aloud, picking up a  
broken picture frame. "I mean, we're the Rescue Rangers aren't we? We solve  
robberies, not suffer them."  
"All right everyone, split up and see what else they've taken," Chip  
said, taking charge. "I'm going to check on the Ranger Wing."  
"I'll check my workshop," Gadget said, sprinting off.  
"Zipper and I will scrounge for some food to tide us over till we can go  
shopping again," Monterey said, heading out the front door, not realizing or   
not caring that he was still in his nightclothes.   
"I'll get some paper so we can make a list of everything that was   
taken," Foxglove said. She turned to go, until she just saw Dale standing   
there, the most pitiful look imaginable on his face. "Dale sweetie?" she  
asked, going up to him and putting a wing around his shoulders.  
Dale had been both motionless and silent since they had all discovered   
that they'd been robbed, but at the first touch of Foxglove's wing, he had   
turned into her embrace and broken down, blubbering about the missing TV and  
how it was the gravest of injustices.  
Foxglove held him for a moment, letting him cry it out of his system.   
"As much as I love holding you like this sweetie," she whispered, "we really  
need your help. From what Monty was saying, I think they got at our food too.  
Could you go in there and see what's left, if anything?"  
"All right," Dale said quietly, sniffling away a couple tears. He   
walked into the kitchen just to confirm what Monterey had found earlier.   
"Completely empty," he grumbled, slamming the refrigerator door shut. He was  
about to tell Foxglove this when an idea struck him. He nearly tore open the  
door to one of the cabinets and looked inside.  
It was empty, just like Dale had anticipated, but then he saw what he  
hoped he wouldn't. The bottom of the cabinet was missing, revealing a hidden  
compartment that just yesterday had been filled with many types of sweets,   
especially chocolate. "They took it," he said, closing the door in disbelief.  
"Not only did they take the TV, they took my chocolate! Now they must pay!"  
A look of mixed determination and anger crossed his face. Dale stormed  
off into the bedroom he shared with Chip, pulling off his nightshirt and   
tossing it into the corner angrily. He pulled a shirt from his closet and  
pulled it on, getting his head stuck until he remembered he had to unbutton  
the top button.  
Dale dropped to his knees and crawled into the closet, pushing things  
aside until he found what he was looking for. Grunting with the effort, he  
dragged a box marked "COMICS" and covered with various air mail stamps that   
seemed to originate from France out and set it in the middle of the floor. He   
ripped off the tape holding it closed, mindful not to let it get caught on his   
fur because he knew from experience how painful that would be to get off.   
Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath or two, Dale reached into the  
box and pulled out a white bandanna. He opened his eyes and stared at the   
cloth in his hand before clenching his fist around it. "It's time to   
decaffeinate some thieves," he muttered angrily, fixing the bandanna around   
his head.  
Outside in the living room, Chip and Gadget were comparing notes on what  
they'd found. The Ranger Wing was only minimally damaged, with some   
navigational components and the batteries missing. Gadget's workshop, like   
the living room, was almost completely gutted. "It doesn't make any sense,"  
Gadget said, shaking her head. "When we moved most of this stuff in here, we  
made enough noise to wake half the park. How did they get it out without  
waking at least one of us up?"  
"Who knows how long these guys were planning this," Chip said. "For   
all I know they pulled everything apart and moved it out bit by bit. All I   
know is that whoever these guys are, they've done this before." He went to  
remove his hat only to find that it wasn't there. Blushing sheepishly, he  
smiled as Gadget chuckled at him. "We'd better get dressed, then we can try  
to get some replacement stuff until we find who did this."  
"I'll get on it right away; it didn't take me long to put things   
together in the first place. With Foxglove's help, it shouldn't even take   
that long."  
"Of course I'll help out," Foxy started to say, until she jumped from  
the sound of a door being slammed open. She spun around and looked, one hand  
over her heart. "Cutie?" she asked in surprise.  
Dale, or should I say RamDale, undid the safety on his coffee bean   
machine gun and narrowed his eyes. "Let's go percolate some crooks!" he   
yelled, running toward the front door.  
Chip and Gadget stared at him for a moment before diving at him in an  
attempt to bring him down. The only thing they managed to bring down was each   
other, however, as they collided heads and fell in a heap. "Stop him!" Chip  
managed to yell though being under Gadget.  
Foxglove didn't know what was going on, but she knew it wasn't good.   
She hurried to the door and saw RamDale already on the ground. Spreading her   
wings, she dove down, levelling off just early enough not to crash but late   
enough to build up an incredible amount of speed.  
RamDale, however, knew nothing of this as he was singularly focused on   
his goal. But just as he was going to disappear into a patch of dense   
underbrush, Foxglove swooped by and hooked her legs under his arms. "Hey!"  
Dale yelped as he felt himself lifted up into the air. "Put me down!"  
"Calm down Dale!" Foxglove pleaded, pumping her wings hard to gain   
altitude. "You keep struggling and I'm going to crash!"  
The threat of him causing Foxglove harm broke through his haze of anger   
and Dale quieted down immediately. But the struggle combined with the early   
hour had weakened her, causing her to have to glide to the ground a few yards  
from the tree. Dale immediately tried to run for it, but two beefy hands   
lifted him easily off the ground. "Here now, what's this?" Monterey asked  
before he recognized the contraption Dale was wearing. "I never thought I'd  
see this thing again."  
"I don't know what's going on here," Foxglove said, stretching her sore  
wings, "but I'd sure like some answers."  
"I'm sure we'll get some when we get back," Monterey assured her,   
picking Dale up on his shoulder despite the chipmunk's protests.   
Back in Headquarters, Chip and Gadget were sitting on the floor with   
their backs to each other. "I thought it was Dale with the hard head," Gadget   
said, gently rubbing her forehead.  
"You don't grow up with Dale for a brother and not get a thick skull out  
of it," Chip joked, wincing a bit as he laughed. "You think she caught him?"  
Gadget's answer was cut off by the arrival of Monterey, who threw Dale  
down on the floor next to them. "Someone mind telling me what's going on   
here?" he asked, crossing his arms over his stomach.  
"That's what I'd like to know," Chip said, standing up and helping   
Gadget to her feet. "Where did you get that thing anyway? I could've sworn  
we left that thing in France."  
"You did," Dale said, putting the safety back on and taking it off his  
back. "But a few weeks after we got back, this package arrived for me from   
those poodles we helped. In it was this and a note expressing how happy they  
were to be home. I didn't want you guys to know about it, so I hid it away   
in the back of the closet."  
"And how come I never noticed it?"  
"Well, I didn't want you to do anything to it, so I marked it 'COMICS'  
so you wouldn't go near it." Dale couldn't help the smirk on his face at  
finally putting one over on his big brother.  
Chip just shook his head. "Do you know how dangerous that is? You're  
just lucky no one got hurt."  
"Oh someone's gonna get hurt all right, the guys who took our stuff!"  
"Now Dale," Gadget said, getting between the boys, "you know that's not  
our way. Look, we can replace all the stuff we lost, it's not that big a   
deal."  
"Yeah, calm down Dale," Foxglove said, holding onto his arm. "I don't   
like seeing you like this. It sorta scares me a little."  
Dale sighed and slumped back against Foxglove. "I'm sorry Foxy," he  
said. "It's just that these guys came into our home and took our stuff. What  
if they wanted to hurt you or something? I couldn't live with myself if that   
happened because of me."  
"Because of you?" Chip demanded, incredulous. "What is that supposed  
to mean?"  
"I was supposed to stay up last night to watch the late night movie  
marathon. If I'd been up, I could've woken you guys up and nothing would've  
happened."  
"Dale, you can't blame yourself for that," Chip said, putting his hand   
on his brother's shoulder. "We were all exhausted last night, and if you'd  
fallen asleep out on the couch, who knows what they would've done to you. We  
should just be glad we're all safe. So put away the RamDale stuff, OK?   
That's one outfit I don't ever want to see you in again."  
"All right Chip," Dale said, pulling the bandanna off his head.  
"But that does give me an idea," Gadget said, walking quickly through   
the tree and studying various vantage points. "We really need to set up some  
kind of security system here, in case this happens again. I could rig up a   
couple of cameras with motion sensors that'll snap off some pictures if they  
detect something."  
"I don't know about this Gadget," Chip said worriedly. "I mean, I don't  
want my every move to be watched by cameras all day."  
"Oh don't be silly Chip," Gadget said as she took the paper and pencil   
from Foxglove and started to jot down some notes. "First of all, we can't   
even use video cameras because they don't make them small enough to fit in the  
tree to where they can't be seen. I was thinking something more like what   
Dale used when he was playing that spy. And, they'd only be active at night  
when we're all in bed. I can even fit them with night vision lenses. If I   
do this right, I can make them take 5 pictures in succession and...."  
"Gadget," Chip said calmly, walking up to her and taking her by the   
hands, "we can worry about that once we find a way to replace everything.   
Don't you think we should have something to protect again before figuring out  
how to protect it?" Gadget flushed slightly and looked down. But before she  
could apologize, Chip tilted her face up to his and kissed her softly. "You  
don't have to apologize," he said quietly. "Let's just focus on that for now  
and we'll see what happens, OK?"  
"All right," Gadget said with a smile. "I'll head to the junkyards and  
see what I can scrounge up. I...I think I'll focus on getting the Ranger Wing  
running first."  
"That's the way," Chip said, drawing her into a warm hug. "If you want  
the rest of us to get anything, just make us a list and we'll do our best."  
Gadget nodded, then reluctantly pulled away from his embrace. "Let's   
get started then," she said, turning the paper she was carrying over and   
making a quick list. "Now I just need to figure out how to get all the stuff  
to fix the Ranger Wing."  
"I can take you," Foxglove said with a smile. "That is, if you don't  
mind leaving the flying to me. Of course, I want to hear just what you   
meant about Dale playing spy while we look."  
Two weeks passed in this manner, and a sense of normalcy was finally   
restored to Ranger Headquarters as summer crept closer. The Ranger Wing's  
full capabilities had been restored, and Gadget had even managed a couple of  
upgrades. The new television they had was smaller than the old one, which  
Dale grumbled about every chance he got. But on the bright side, their new  
sofa, which Zipper had found in a dollhouse that had been thrown out, folded  
out into a fairly comfortable bed that Dale could use for his late night   
marathons. Every thing else was comparable to what they'd lost, although  
Monterey swore the new frying pans didn't let him flip his cheese flapjacks  
the right way.  
It was at this time that Chip and Gadget were putting the final touches  
on the security system she'd designed. "I really appreciate you helping me  
with this," Gadget said, fitting a false panel over the last camera and making  
sure it could still see out of the hole she had cut in it.   
"I'm still not completely convinced it's a good idea," Chip said,   
hooking up the wire to a motion sensor Gadget had placed in the ceiling.  
"Don't forget Chip, we all promised to give this two weeks and then see   
if it was worth it. You'll see, in a couple days, we won't even remember   
that they're here. At least, you won't. I'll be checking them every morning  
to see if they've snapped anything."  
"That's what I'm afraid of," Chip muttered. But his frown turned into  
a smile as Gadget hugged and kissed him. "Not fair," he pouted playfully.  
Gadget kissed him softly again and then checked the timing mechanism.   
"Everything seems to be in order. With this in, I'll sleep a lot safer."  
Chip merely nodded, but inside he still worried about what might happen.   
But because he had agreed to, he kept it to himself.  
Later that morning, Gadget and Chip were in a storage room the others   
had just finished cleaning out, setting it up as a darkroom. "Chip?" Gadget  
asked quietly, stringing up a bunch of red Christmas lights along the ceiling.  
"Yeah Gadget?" Chip asked, making sure the shelves that would hold the  
developing chemicals were sturdy and secure.  
"Can I ask you something?"  
"Of course! You should know that by now."  
"I know," Gadget said, looking down worriedly, "it's just that I have a  
question about Harold, and I was wondering if you could answer it for me."  
Chip dropped his hammer in surprise, nearly hitting his foot. "What do  
you want to know?" he asked slowly.  
"Well, I've been trying to make sense of this whole thing, but it just  
doesn't. I mean, I know you said he has honor, but how could he after what he  
did?"  
Chip sighed and sat down, pulling Gadget into his lap. "Harold grew up  
in a very 'strict' family," he said after a few seconds of thought.   
"By 'strict,' do you mean 'abusive?'" Gadget asked in a whisper.  
"Yeah, but it was something no one ever talked about. His father was  
really bad, punishing Harold for the smallest infractions against his honor  
code. Honor was everything to him, and he demanded no less from his son.  
"So when Dale made those comments to him, he felt dishonored. From that  
moment on, his father wanted nothing to do with him until he restored his   
honor. That's why it became an all consuming obsession to him. And that's   
why our parents moved us, to get away from that."  
"Why didn't anyone try to stop it? That must've been so horrible for  
him. Not that I blame you or anything, but surely all the adults there must  
have known."  
"I'm sure they did," Chip agreed. "But this was a small town where no  
one wanted trouble. I guess every town has dirty little secret no one wants  
to talk about. This was ours."  
Gadget looped her arms around Chip's neck and rested her cheek against  
his temple. "I won't let our children go through that," she promised.  
Chip pulled away slightly and looked Gadget in her eyes. "Children?"   
he asked, a smile curling his lips.  
Gadget flushed as pink as her nose. "I-I'd better get back to work,"   
she stammered, standing up and nearly leaping over to the work table she'd  
set up.  
Chip watched her for a moment, a warm smile on his lips. "You have   
no idea how long I've been wanting to hear that," he thought before getting  
up to help her.  
Nothing happened for a few days and the cameras were soon forgotten,   
just as Gadget said. But then one night, when everyone was asleep, one of the  
bedroom doors opened unexpectedly. A few moments later the refrigerator door   
opened. Some rustling of the contents inside occurred, followed by a rather   
large gulping noise before the door closed. Finally, that same bedroom door  
closed quietly, and all was still once more.  
That morning, it was Chip's turn to make breakfast. "I think I'll try  
something simple today," he said, opening the refrigerator and rummaging   
through it. "Wait a minute, where'd all the cheese go?" It only took a   
moment of pondering for the obvious. "Monty must've been sleepeating again,"  
he realized, letting his head rest against one of the refrigerator's trays.  
"Oh well, I guess I'll just have to make do."  
About an hour later, the rest of the Rangers had woken up and were  
gathered around the kitchen table, waiting for Chip to get finished. "It  
smells good Chip," Foxglove called, rubbing her stomach lightly.   
"Yeah, Chip always was a pretty good cook," Dale said above his stomach  
growling. "Not as good as our mom, but still pretty good."  
"Well then, this should be a real blast from the past," Chip said,   
carrying over a plate and setting it down in the middle of the table. "Acorn  
waffles!"  
"No way!" Dale asked, his eyes shining and his tail wagging a mile a   
minute. "I haven't had these since we left home!"  
"I figured you'd like them," Chip said, smiling at his younger brother.  
"Well come on everyone, dig in!"  
Most of the other Rangers grabbed a waffle and started muching on them.  
Monterey, on the other hand, just looked at his. "Couldn't you have made mine  
with cheese or something?" he asked, poking it with his fork.  
"I would have, but someone ate all the cheese last night," he said,   
pointing his fork at the portly mouse.  
"Well I never! How dare you accuse me of that?"  
"Monty," Gadget said, taking a sip of her cherry juice, "we all know you  
can sleepeat at times. And since it's cheese that's gone, it has to be you."  
"Yeah," Dale said after finally managing to swallow the waffle, which   
he'd shoved into his mouth whole. "And besides, if it's chocolate missing,   
you're always the first to blame me."  
Monterey just crossed his arms in a huff. "Well, it's not like I'm   
doing it on purpose," he said. "But I'm still not convinced I'm doing it at  
all."  
"Don't take it personally," Chip said. "Besides, it gave me the excuse   
to dust off this recipe."  
"I suppose I can try it out," Monterey said, cutting off a forkful and   
putting it into his mouth. "Not bad," he admitted grudgingly. "Still...."  
"It could use some cheese!" the others finished for him.  
"Too right," Monterey said with a smile.   
After breakfast had been finished and cleared, Gadget ran her usual   
rounds to check her cameras. To her surprise, even though it really shouldn't  
have been, the camera in the kitchen had snapped off it's measure. Pulling a  
spare roll from her overalls, she changed the film and placed the used one in  
her pocket. None of the others had been activated, so she went off to the   
darkroom to develop what she had.  
When this was first being set up, Gadget had no idea what she was doing.  
Sure, she had found a book or two on the subject, but when it came to actually  
developing the film, she ruined more practice pictures than she saved. But as  
always, she was a quick learner and she'd now gotten to the point to where she  
could handle a small batch with little difficulty.  
Gadget stood back after she'd developed the five pictures, more than a  
bit proud that she had not messed up any of them. Once she had stopped to   
think about it, she knew what the pictures were going to be about. So it was  
no surprise that it showed Monterey's sleepeating the cheese last night. "Oh  
Monty," she sighed, shaking her head.  
When the pictures were dry, she took them off the line and turned on the  
regular light. Flipping through them, she found something that caught her eye  
and set the other pictures down on the worktable. "I don't believe him," she  
said, exasperated. Pushing her goggles up off her face, she stalked from the  
room.  
The other Rangers were waiting for Gadget so they could go to the police  
station in hopes of finding a case or two. So when Gadget came walking down  
the hallway, they were glad and getting ready to go. That is, until Gadget   
jumped up and grabbed Monterey's ear. "Yeouch!" Monterey yelled, shaking   
free from her grasp. "What was that for Gadget luv?"  
"Don't you 'Gadget luv' me," Gadget said, her eyes narrowed as she   
stared at Monterey. "Did you really think we wouldn't find out about this?"  
Without waiting for an answer, she shoved the picture she was holding in  
Monterey's face.  
"What's this?" he asked, taking the picture and holding it so he   
could take a look at it. When he saw what it was, his whole face drooped,  
even his mustache. "Uh oh."  
"What's going on?" Chip asked, taking the picture from Monterey. "So  
what?" he asked when he saw it. "It's just a picture of Monty eating a piece  
of cheese."  
"Not quite Chip," Gadget said, still glaring at Monterey. "It's a   
picture of Monterey eating a piece of cheese last night, in the kitchen,   
caught by one of the night-vision cameras I installed."  
"You mean we have proof of him sleepeating?" Dale asked, looking at the  
picture over Chip's shoulder. "Finally! Maybe now he'll believe us."  
"Take another look Dale. His eyes are wide open, so he's not doing any  
sleepeating, he's just eating."  
"Now Gadget luv, let me explain," Monterey said, holding his hands up   
in front of him.  
"Explain what? Why you ate the cheese? Why you let us think you were  
doing it in your sleep? Or maybe you want to explain why you lied to us?"  
Monterey seemed to shrink somewhat under Gadget's glare. "OK, I was  
wrong," he blurted out. "I'm sorry, but when I wake up with a hankering for  
cheese, I just can't stop myself!"  
"That doesn't explain why you lied to us," Chip said as everyone else  
started to glare at him.  
"I didn't lie exactly," Monterey said, tracing circles in the imaginary  
dirt on the floor with his toe. "You were the ones that thought I was eating  
in my sleep, and I told you I wasn't."  
"Yeah, but you didn't tell us the truth," Gadget said, her voice falling  
to a whisper.   
Nothing hurt Monterey more than the hurt and disappointment he heard in  
the voice of the mouse he'd come to treat as his daughter. "You're right,"   
he said, pulling off his cap and running his fingers through his hair. "I was  
wrong. I'll try not to do it again."  
"The cheese eating, or the lying?" Foxglove asked, arching an eyebrow.  
"I don't know if I can stop the cheese eating, but I won't lie about it  
anymore."  
"I guess that'll do for now," Gadget said. "But the next time we get   
some cheese in here, I'm going to find a way to lock it up at night so you  
can't get to it."  
"Don't you think that's going a little far Gadget luv?" Monterey asked  
in almost a whiny voice.  
"Not after what you just did," Gadget said, turning and going to get the  
Ranger Wing started.  
"Stupid cameras," Monterey muttered, jamming his cap back on top of his   
head. "I always knew they were a bad idea."  
"Oh, you're just saying that because you got caught," Dale said, poking  
Monterey in the side with a smile.  
"Yeah, well let's see how much you like them when you get caught." Dale  
scoffed at Monterey's prediction, not knowing that in only two short days,   
Monterey would be proven right.  
It was early morning when it happened. Dale was sneaking around, trying  
to filch some chocolate from his new secret stash when he tripped over   
something. He caught his balance quickly enough, but that's when he decided   
to goof around a little. He careened around the hallway, acting like he was   
going to fall flat on his face only to veer off in another direct and have to  
"catch his balance" all over again.  
Dale was having a lot of fun, until he overbalanced himself too far and  
went headfirst into a wall. Now while he didn't hurt himself, he did knock a  
picture off the wall. He cringed at the sound of breaking glass, looking   
around quickly to make sure no one had awoken from it. After a tense minute   
of holding his breath with his pulse pounding in his ears, he let it out   
slowly when it was obvious no one had.  
He looked down at the shattered picture frame and blanched. "What am I  
gonna do?" he wondered. Then an idea hit him and one could almost see the  
lightbulb going off if they had been looking. Being very careful not to cut  
himself on any sharp edges, he managed to rearrange the picture and frame in  
such a way that it looked perfectly normal and would stay together on the   
wall, even if just barely. He replaced it in its position and crept back to  
bed, the chocolate run forgotten.  
Later that morning, while Gadget was cooking a breakfast that acutally  
didn't smell like motor oil yet, Zipper flew down the hallway toward the  
kitchen. A stray gust of wind from an open door nudged him off course in   
mid-air, making one of his wings just barely graze the glass in the frame.   
But because of its rather precarious nature, it broke apart with just that  
much of a nudge and fell to the ground in pieces.  
"Zipper!" Chip gasped, coming up running when he heard the commotion.  
"What happened here?" Zipper tried to explain, but even as he did so, he knew  
it sounded bad. "You expect me to believe that you broke it just by brushing  
against it?" Chip asked, tapping his foot.  
Zipper just sighed and floated down to the floor. While he began   
cleaning up the mess, everyone else ran up and wanted to know what was going  
on. Only Gadget seemed to think there was something fishy involved with the  
story. After she finished cooking breakfast, she excused herself early and  
went to check on the hallway camera. Sure enough, five pictures had been  
snapped. Quickly removing the film and replacing it with a fresh one, she  
made her way down to the darkroom and set to work in finding the truth.  
It was a couple hours later that Gadget emerged once more, the set of  
pictures clenched in one hand. "I don't believe you Dale," she said, moving  
to stand between him and the TV.   
"Umm, what's the problem?" Dale asked, scratching his head.   
"Yeah Gadget," Foxglove said, sitting up from where she was leaning   
against Dale. "What's going on?"  
For answer, Gadget simply showed them the pictures that had been  
taken. In it was a clear series showing Dale hitting the wall, the picture  
falling and breaking, and Dale's attempts to hide what he'd done. "Hey, I  
thought those things only ran at night," Dale said.  
"They run until seven AM," Gadget said. "These were timestamped at six  
forty-five."  
"How could you Dale?" Foxglove asked, pushing away from Dale in her  
annoyance. "We all thought that Zipper broke that picture frame, and it was  
you this whole time? You know how much that picture means to me; it's my   
first as a Rescue Ranger! When were you going to tell us that?"  
"Umm, I wasn't," Dale mumbled into his shirt.  
"Just great. Well you can forget about that date we have tonight until  
you fix it and apologize to Zipper."  
"Foxy! That's not fair!"  
"And blaming Zipper for your actions is?"  
Dale looked down, ashamed. "It's not like it matters anyway. Zipper's  
already fixed it."  
"Oh is that so?" Foxglove asked, her hands on her hips. She turned   
around and walked down the hallway. A few seconds later, a loud crash could  
be heard. "There," she said, dusting off her wings, "now it's not." Everyone  
just looked at her as she stormed off into her bedroom and slammed the door.  
Dale got to his feet with a loud sigh. "Stupid cameras," he muttered,  
walking toward the broken picture frame with the air of a condemned rodent.  
"Oh, you're just saying that because you got caught," Monterey taunted,  
mimicing Dale's words of a couple days ago.   
Chip quickly got between the two before a fight could break out. There  
were a few tense seconds of staring, but eventually they both went their   
separate ways. "Still think this is a good idea Gadget?" he asked in a quiet  
voice.  
"Now Chip," Gadget said, struggling a bit to keep her voice level, "the  
cameras have been doing exactly what they're out there to do. If everyone  
wouldn't do things that would get them in trouble, there wouldn't be any   
problems. You can't blame the cameras for that."  
"Maybe not," Chip allowed reluctantly, "but is it worth it? It feels   
like the only thing these cameras are really doing is making everyone upset."  
"We're already through the first week. Please, let's just finish out  
the trial period. Then we'll figure out what to do."  
Chip sighed and covered his eyes with his hand. "A promise is a   
promise, even though I have a really bad feeling about all this."  
"What could go wrong?" Gadget asked innocently.  
Chip slapped his hand to his forehead. "Famous last words Gadget.   
Famous last words."  
It took Dale all day to fix the picture and frame. Not only did   
Foxglove smash it into pieces tinier than he had, pieces of the glass were  
just about crushed into powder. After a number of hours trying, he just gave   
up and got the materials to make another one. It was slow going because he   
had to do it himself, and he nearly left it half finished for the night. But  
when Foxglove came out of her room in a slinky, low-cut red dress to remind  
Dale of their missed date, he finished it in record time. Too bad that by the  
time he got it hung up on the wall, Foxglove had already turned in for the   
night.  
The next morning, Foxglove woke up early, yawning in the sunlight that  
fell across her form. She looked over to her roommate as she flipped down   
from her perch, landing gently on her feet. Seeing that she hadn't woken   
Gadget, she crept over to her dresser and unlocked the bottom drawer. Lying  
inside were a collection of bottles, each labeled with unusual names. Looking  
them over for a second, she selected one that was filled with a dark red   
liquid and pulled it out. Carefully closing and locking the drawer, she stole  
out of the room and headed toward the kitchen.  
Once there, she waited outside the doorway until the clock chimed seven  
times. "Wouldn't want Gadget to get a picture of this," she thought, placing  
the bottle next to the stove as she went to gather the other ingredients for  
breakfast. Unfortunately for her, she never realized that the kitchen clock  
was set just about five minutes fast....  
After another filling breakfast courtesy of Foxglove, Gadget quickly   
made the rounds of her cameras. She was surprised when the first camera she  
checked, the kitchen camera, caught something. "Did something happen last  
night?" she thought as she changed the film. "I'd better hurry and see what  
these are."  
Minutes later, in her darkroom, Gadget was just finishing developing the  
final picture. To her disappointment, it was only Foxglove getting breakfast  
ready. "And here I thought I'd get lucky," she said, hanging the pictures up   
to dry. "If something doesn't turn up soon, there's no way I can convince   
Chip this is a good idea."  
Once the pictures were dry, she got ready to throw them out when she   
noticed something in the corner of one of them. It was an unusual looking  
bottle, one that Gadget had never seen before. "Could that be her secret  
ingredient?" she wondered before suddenly putting the pictures down. "No, I  
can't do that to her," she said aloud to convince herself of that fact.  
She picked them up to throw them out, but her curiosity got the better  
of her. Against her better judgment, she looked at the bottle in the picture.  
"Sânge," she read, confused. "Must be in her native tongue or something. Too  
bad I have no idea what it is."  
Gadget sat down on the stool and put her mind to work. "Well, it   
definitely sounds familiar," she admitted. "Almost sounds like the Spanish   
word 'sangre' and the French word 'sang,' but they both mean...." Gadget   
threw down the pictures as if they'd burned her. "No way," she thought, her  
entire body shaking. "She wouldn't...she couldn't!"  
She lurched from the room, the sudden nausea making her stomach clench  
violently. She made it back to the living room where everyone was watching  
TV before collapsing against the wall. "Gadget!" Chip yelled, rushing to   
her side. "What happened, are you ok?"  
Being in Chip's arms was helping Gadget feel better, at least until the  
others rushed over and she caught sight of Foxglove. There was no way she  
could hide the horror and revulsion from her expression before she turned her  
face into Chip's chest.  
Foxglove's eyes narrowed when she saw the look Gadget was giving her.   
She had seen that look a couple times, and each time it was because of the  
same dream. "How?" she asked, her voice shaking. "How did you find out?"  
"Cameras," Gadget mumbled, her voice muffled somewhat by Chip's fur.  
"But I waited until they should've shut off!" Foxglove yelled. "I   
don't belive this."  
"What? What's going on Foxy?" Dale asked, as confused as the others  
were.  
Without answering, Foxglove stalked off into her bedroom, only to come  
out seconds later holding a small bottle in her hands. "This is what you   
saw, right?" she demanded. Gadget turned to look at the bottle, then turned   
away quickly as she felt the bile rise up in her throat. "That's all the   
answer I need," Foxglove muttered, uncorking the bottle. "Smell it."  
Gadget shook her head violently, nearly unbalancing Chip. Foxglove   
grabbed Gadget's chin and forced the bottle under her nose. Gadget tried to  
hold her breath, but her nausea made that a bad idea and she was forced to   
take deep breaths to not regurgitate her breakfast even though she knew that  
the smell from that bottle would make things ten times worse.  
But instead of the smell she was expecting, her nose picked up a fruity  
smell, but one that was mixed in with many different herbs and spices. "Huh?"  
she asked intelligently. Foxglove took the opportunity to pour a few drops of  
the liquid down Gadget's throat. Gadget choked and sputtered at the burning  
sensation it produced, but there was none of the revulsion or coppery tang she  
was sure she'd notice. "But...."  
"Will someone tell me what's going on?" Chip asked, getting frustrated  
as his confusion grew.  
"Gadget's cameras must have caught me making breakfast this morning,"   
Foxglove answered. "And since I used this bottle, she translated the label to  
see what I've been using as my 'secret ingredient' so to speak."  
"Yeah so?" Dale asked.  
"Cutie, the label on it translates to 'blood,'" Foxglove explained. At  
the look all of them gave her, she couldn't help but laugh. "Don't worry,"   
she said as her laughter faded, "it's not really blood, I just mark my bottles   
like that so I know if someone goes snooping. All it really is is some spiced  
wine from my homeland. My mom keeps me well stocked on a bunch of cooking  
stuff. And no, you can't get drunk on this stuff," she added, seeing Chip's  
eyes harden. "The alcohol in it burns off in the cooking."  
"That's a relief," Chip admitted.  
"But what's not a relief is what you did," Foxglove said softly, looking  
at Gadget. "Why? You knew how important it was to me that this remained a   
secret."  
"I didn't do it on purpose," Gadget said, her eyes downcast.   
"I believe you, but it still hurts that you did it at all."  
Gadget nodded, turning away from Chip and hugging her knees to her   
chest. "I'll be taking out the cameras today," she said. "Don't worry, this   
will never happen again."  
Chip pulled Gagdet to lean back against him. "The hardest thing to   
admit is when you're wrong," he said. "Come on, let's get those cameras   
down."  
"Umm, am I interrupting anything?"  
The Rangers all turned to look at the now open door to find a familiar  
red-haired squirrel standing there, nervously smoothing out her pink shirt.  
"Oh, hey there Tammy," Chip said. "What brings you by?"  
"Hey Chipper," she said softly. Like most of the other animals in the  
park, Tammy had heard of the new relationships that had formed within the   
Rescue Rangers. And even though she knew that her own feelings for Chip were  
just a crush, it had still hurt when she found out that he and Gadget were  
officially an item. But that wasn't why she was here, she reminded herself.   
"Umm, if this is a bad time, I can come back later."  
"Naw, everything's OK," Dale said, getting behind her and bringing her  
down to the others. "So, what can we do for you?"  
"Well, I heard about how you guys were robbed," Tammy said, wincing  
inwardly at how different the headquarters looked. "And well, I think I might  
know something about it."  
"And how would you be knowing that?" Monterey asked, looking intently  
at her.  
Tammy seemed to wilt a little under his gaze. "Well, one of the kids I  
hang out with has been bragging to anyone who'll listen about how he got one  
over on the Rescue Rangers. No one believed him, until he showed off one of  
the pieces he took off the Ranger Wing. Now they all treat him like some kind  
of superstar."  
"Do you know where he lives?" Foxglove asked.  
Tammy nodded quietly. "But even if I took you there, it wouldn't   
matter. His parents think he's a little angel, and they'll throw you out of  
their tree for even suggesting he's anything but."  
"So what, we can't do anything to him?"  
"I didn't say that," Tammy said, a crafty smile forming on her lips.  
"I know where they're keeping your stuff. If we actually catch them with it,  
the parents can't deny that."  
"Wait a minute, you said 'they' just now."  
"Well yeah, it's him and his two goons. They're all in on this."  
"All right Rangers," Chip said, helping Gadget up. "Let's go get our  
stuff back. Rescue Rangers Away!" he yelled with the others joining in.   
But as the others ran out, he grabbed Tammy's arm gently. "After this is  
over, I am going to want to know just how you know these things," he told her  
in an undertone.  
Tammy swallowed noisily and nodded. In the back of her mind, she hoped  
that Chip would forget all about it by the time it was over. But she knew  
deep in her heart that he wouldn't. After all, if he did, he wouldn't be the  
kind of guy she crushed on.  
That evening, three teenage squirrels walked into their "secret hideout"  
and flopped down on the first piece of available furniture. "That was a   
riot," the first one, a red squirrel with a freckled face said as he picked up  
an acorn to much on. He pulled a worn baseball cap over his eyes and tilted  
his head back on the couch.  
"Yeah, but it's starting to get kind of old," the second, a brown   
squirrel with white markings on his chest and palms said. "I mean, there's no  
challenge in it anymore, no thrill."  
"Well I'm about to change all that," the third one, a grey squirrel with  
dark black hair, slicked back and falling almost to his shoulders, said. "The  
next thing we're going to do is big, bigger than when we hit those goody-goody  
Rescue Rangers."  
"Sounds promising Thomas," the brown squirrel said, leaning forward.   
"What do you have in mind?"  
"I'll tell you Jim," Thomas said with a leer. "You're tired of robbing  
from rodents? Fine, let's start stealing from the humans. Those big oafs   
won't even realize they're missing anything until a week later. So we can   
hit the same house night after night and laugh ourselves silly when they're   
none the wiser."  
"I don't know about this," the red squirrel said. "I mean, if they do   
catch us, they won't think twice about turning us over to a lab or something."  
"You worry too much Rick," Thomas said. "To catch us, they'd have to be  
smarter than me, and there's no one alive who is."  
"Oh really?"  
The three squirrels jumped up at the voice and looked around. "Who's   
out there?" Jim demanded, reaching for a toothpick and holding it as one  
might hold a javelin.   
"RESCUE RANGERS AWAY!" Before the squirrels could react, six Rangers   
jumped out of the shadows. The Rangers were on them before they knew what was   
happening and within seconds it was over.  
"What do you think you're doing?" Thomas yelled as Chip secured his   
wrists to his ankles with a piece of twine. "You can't do this to me!"  
"Oh, and you could steal from us?" Chip asked, looking over to make   
sure the other two were secure before standing up. "What made you think you   
could get away with this?"  
"And who says we won't?" Thomas said with a smirk. "It's not like you  
can put us in jail or anything."  
"No, but we can tell your parents," Tammy said, stepping out of the   
shadows and walking in front of Thomas. "I wonder what they'd say about   
this."  
"What are you doing here Tammy?" Jim asked, his look of surprise   
mirroring what was on the faces of the other two.  
"Isn't it obvious? I led them here. Geez, your egos are even bigger   
than I thought they were."  
"You mean you set us up?" Thomas screamed, strugging against his bonds,  
but the twine held secure.  
"Of course I did," Tammy said with a smirk of her own that made her look   
mature beyond her years. "Honestly, I don't know what's more pathetic: that  
you thought you could steal from the Rescue Rangers or that you thought I   
actually liked you!"  
"Why you little b--!"  
"Finish that sentence and you deal with me," Monterey said, clamping his  
hand over Thomas' mouth.  
"It's not like you can prove this to our parents anyway," Rick said,  
though his voice betrayed his nervousness.   
Zipper chattered excitedly in Monterey's ear, pulling him over to   
something in one of the junk piles. "Here now, what's this?" Monterey asked,  
pulling out what Zipper was pointing to. Then a smile broke out on his face.  
"Hey Dale, remember this?" he called, tossing something to the chipmunk.  
Dale grabbed it out of reflex, then he smiled seeing just what it was.  
"I think this solves that problem," he said, undoing the clip and fastening   
the bowtie around his neck. "Hey guys!" he called, wiping off the camera  
lens as a look of fear crossed the boys' faces. "Say cheese!"  
It wasn't until much later that night that the Rescue Rangers and Tammy  
returned to Rescue Ranger HQ. "That's the last of them," Chip said, flopping  
down on the sofa.   
"Yeah," Gadget said, sitting down next to Chip and reclining against   
him. "It took a while, but we finally got everything back to its original   
owner."  
"Yeah," Tammy said with a weary smile, "but the most rewarding part of  
the night was trying to see those three weasel their way out of this in front  
of their parents."  
"Well, their parents aren't bad," Gadget remarked as everyone else   
found a place to rest, "they just have tunnel vision with their kids. At  
least we broke them out of it before it got too far."  
"Maybe," Tammy said. "For me, I'll believe it when I see it."  
"Speaking of which," Chip said, putting his arm around Gadget, "what  
were you thinking, trying to infiltrate a gang like that? Do you know how  
badly you could've gotten hurt?"  
"I did," Tammy admitted, rolling her eyes, "but I knew you guys would  
do the same for me. And it's not about being a Rescue Ranger or trying to  
get you to like me; it's about helping my friends out."  
"Can't argue with that," Dale said, snuggling his head into Foxglove's  
chest.   
"No, I guess we can't," Chip chuckled tiredly. "Look Tammy, it's not  
that we don't appreciate it, but we just don't want you to get hurt. And I  
think I know the perfect way to do that."  
"Really?" Tammy asked. "And just what is that Chipper?"  
"How'd you like to be a Ranger Reservist?"  
"A what?" everyone else asked together.  
"It's like being a Rescue Ranger, just not full time. Basically, we  
call on you when we need you, but that means you stay out of trouble other  
times. Can we count on you for that?"  
"It's a big responsibility," Tammy said, pretending to think about   
it. "But I think I can handle it."  
"I know you can," Chip said, smiling over at her. "I don't know when  
it happened, but at some point you grew up on us."  
"Glad you finally noticed. Now, if you don't mind, I have to be   
getting home. Remember," she said as she shuffled to the door, "call on me  
when you need me!"  
"We will!" Gadget promised. "That was very nice of you Chip," she  
said after Tammy closed the door.  
"She deserved it," Chip said. "But I'll tell you what we deserve. A  
nice long night of sleep. We can figure out what we're doing with our old  
stuff tomorrow."  
"No arguements here," Foxglove said, yawning. And soon enough,   
everyone had curled up in some fashion and was sound asleep. 


End file.
